Sayuri In Wonderland
by Chiiharu
Summary: It's okay. We're all mad here.
1. Down the Rabbit Hole

Sayuri in Wonderland

Prologue:

_Down the Rabbit Hole_

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><p>Without anyone to bash over the head with her wand, the purple-haired girl finds life so... Boring. She's been reduced to doing the same things over and over everyday, and the more times she does them, the more repetitive they seem. Laying down on her stomach, she twirls a pencil inbetween her lithe fingers, nibbling on the pink eraser and then staring at the Sudoku book on the ground. The teenager's emerald green eyes hover over the collection of squares and lock on the random five placed in the middle of it—wait, how the heck does one go about playing this game? She knows that she's supposed to fit the numbers in the correct boxes but... Aren't crossword puzzles easier?<p>

Rolling over on her back, she lifts the book of number riddles in the air and sticks the pencil in her mouth, chewing on it with a newly-found abhorrence to this... Game. If it can even be called a game. What kind of game makes you think about numbers? This isn't fun. This is the opposite of fun. This is just plain painful. Okay, so she sees a five. Does it stand for anything? Five puppies? Five lollipops? ...The five hours she's going to waste staring at this thing? Sayuri's almost tempted to start writing random numbers in the box, but that wouldn't be much fun.

But isn't that the point of the game?

She groans in a fit of frustration, flipping over on her belly and laying her head down on the book. Games are supposed to produce laughs and gigglesnorts! Not groans of self-destruction and suicide. Not to mention, it's extremely hot in her room. The windows are open, but they're not enough. They're never enough. Does Kohana want her to cook to death in the comfort of her own home, or what? Sayuri lets out one last sigh, and then she closes her eyes, kicking her legs up towards the ceiling and eventually conking out, dying of boredom.

She hears footsteps, but she doesn't bother to look up at the person who has made themselves welcome in her room. Not that it matters, anyway. What is she going to tell them to do? Get out? It's so hot, she doesn't even have the willpower to move, let alone shout at someone. With her eyes still glued shut, she waves her arm out before it slams lifelessly on the ground. "Wargh, what time is it?" she asks on the tip of an exhausted sigh, much to her guest's amusement. The brunette stands over her with his arms folded behind his back—he has a sort of swagger about him; even in this scathingly hot heat, he feels comfortable in his expensive, black pants and his matching, black trench coat with the buttons undone to reveal a white, button-up shirt.

Strange.

A smirk crawls on Suzuki's face and he peers over the tired, exhausted teenager, reaching for the wireless analog clock resting on her nightstand. A silver chain hangs from the cuffs of his coat, but he doesn't seem to mind. Suppressing haughty giggles, he holds the clock in front of her face and then holds his breath. "Hey, Sayuri! I've got the time right here!" Looking at the grin stretch across her face is more than enough reason for him to burst out in laughter, but he decides that would ruin the fun of his prank, so the King of Essences decides to be as quiet as he possibly can.

"Oh really, what is it Suzuki—!" She stops mid-sentence, noticing the red of the numbers, but before she can say anything else he smacks her in the face with the clock, making the back of her head collide into the floor with frightening force. Instead of laughing like he thought he would, the brunette only lets out a slight chuckle, standing up and looking at the dazed Summoner of Time with amused eyes. She covers her forehead with her green-painted fingernails, but then she realizes she hit the back of her head and not her forehead, so her hands quickly take a detour, nursing her aching skull back to health.

"You know, you should really pay attention," he scolds, wagging his index-finger playfully in her face. Sayuri bites back her tongue, as per usual. Who does Suzuki think he is, barging in her room and barking orders at her? And then he has the nerve to assault her with a clock! Who does that? She's never beaten anyone to death with a clock before. Suzuki could have killed her! Heck, he almost did! That bump to the floor was almost fatal! "I could have been anyone."

"You're a nobody!" Sayuri shouts back in rage, sitting up and glaring daggers into the back of his skull. "What did you come up here for anyway? It better be something important, or I'm going to be really angry." The king stops, glances down at the purple-haired girl, and then opens his mouth only to take a dramatic pause. He raises his index-finger in the air and closes his eyes, only to grate on Sayuri's nerves even more-so. She should really control that temper of hers, but then again, it's something that she got from her mother, who is the _queen _of bad tempers. He knows that fairly well.

"Nothing!" he finally declares, turning on his heels.

"What do you mean nothing?" the teenager snaps, clutching at the rug on the ground. "You mean to tell me you came up here and hit me with a clock for nothing? I want revenge, Suzuki!" she demands, waving her hand across the air with a predatory glint in her eyes. He figures this is all too much fun, so he agrees to play along with her game. For now, anyway. He turns around to face her again, clapping his hands and winking at her. Sayuri scoots a bit to the other side of the room, sort of appalled by the flamboyancy he just displayed. She's never seen him act like that before, so it's sort of scary. She tilts her head, wiping some of her hair out of her eyes.

"Uh, you okay?"

"Why ever would you ask that, Sayuri?" he muses, offering her his hand. "Today, I only live to serve you, as part of your 'revenge', right? I'm deeply sorry for smacking you in the face, even if I totally did it to see it contort and hear you whine about how you don't like being assaulted in the face." Okay, he was doing fine up until he brought up the whole clock thing again. She's starting to think that maybe he does like causing her pain and getting on her nerves. Sayuri grits her teeth and balls up her fists, her nostrils snarling at the thought of being hit with a clock again.

Suzuki's lips curl into a slight smirk. "Whatever should I do to make up for such a silly transaction, Sayuri?"

Her reply takes less than a second.

"I want a_ juice box!_" Yes, the tantalizing taste of fruit punch! There isn't anything else on the world like it. And instead of it being just one fruit, it's a bunch of fruits bashed into one. Surely everyone must appreciate the succulent sweetness of the mystical beast known as fruit punch. And its lair? Yes, its lair is heavily guarded by chairs and tables that serve no purpose other than to get in her way when she wants to conquer the beast. And with it being thirty-seven degrees Celsius, she could never dream of having the fruit punch within her grasps. First there's the matter of getting up, then slogging herself down the stairs, then walking around the hallway down there and cutting inbetween a few rooms and... Gah.

But Suzuki?

"Heheheheh!" she laughs, tapping her fingertips together. This is the ultimate punishment. It serves two purposes. To make him work for her, and to quench her thirst. "And it better be cold, too." Ah. That's like the cherry on top. She shudders at the mere thought of water sliding down the side of the box... Yep. That's pretty much heaven right there. Lost in a daze, Suzuki tilts his head and turns around, the tails of his trench coat floating behind him.

"A juice box?" Indeed. It's such a weird request. He waves his arm out dismissively. "Whatever you wish for, your highness_._"

Woah. That sounded a little sarcastic there! Sayuri clutches both of her fists and then she points in his direction, gritting her teeth. "Make that_ two_ juice boxes, Suzuki!" Oh, the horrors of trying to get two juices boxes out of the kitchen... Sayuri cackles to herself. That's horrible! It's a horrible thing to make someone go through! Worse then... Worse then... Her thoughts are sliced into two when she hears some sort of 'popping' sound. Like popcorn popping in a microwave. It's so random and out of place that she looks up and her jaw immediately drops.

It looks like Suzuki's got a big ball of cotton stuck underneath the tails of his coat.

But wait a second—cotton just doesn't come out of nowhere. Nor does it provide zany side effects. The purple-haired girl stands up straight and rubs her eyes as hard as she can, trying to see if she's not going insane. ...Heat can make you go insane, right? That is a good point, seeing as how whenever it seems to get hot people start to lose their minds. There's a whole lot more fights in the summer time, right? So maybe it's so hot that she's starting to see things. That must be it. She takes another look at Suzuki and he looks at her through the corner of his seemingly translucent, purple eyes before he just up and vanishes.

Vanished.

Vanishing.

"What...!" Sayuri utters, her eyes twitching. The brunette pops up again for a split second and she makes sure to keep her eyes glued on him this time, gaping at the two long, white rabbit ears he seems to have dawned. Not knowing what else to do, the Summoner of Time claps her hands on her cheeks and squeezes her face, watching her friend give her a rye smirk before turning the corner. "What is going on!" she shouts, her mouth still agape. "The ears! T-those ears! They just popped up—unraveled...!" She pauses, touching her chest with her fingertips. Now she's calmed down, slightly. "There's no way that could have been real." The teenager lets out a nervous laugh, shaking her head and looking out of her window.

It must have been some sort of magic trick.

A really scary magic trick.

Sayuri stares at the threshold of the door for a few more seconds until she swallows. If that was a magic trick, it was a pretty freaky one. People just don't sprout rabbit ears and a tail... She folds her arms and puts on her metaphorical thinking cap, closing her eyes shut. "Maybe... Maybe Suzuki's going to some kind of sexy party?" Sure about her hypothesis, she nods her head one time and does a victorious arm-pump. "Yep! A sexy, bunny party. He likes his sexy parties, doesn't he..." The time spent on pondering the aforementioned statement is ridiculous; first of all, what _is _a sexy party?

She opens her eyes in frustration and runs towards the door, only to find the now sexy party-fied Suzuki walking down the hallway rather quickly. It's almost like he doesn't notice that she's right behind him. Stuck inbetween thinking this isn't real and wanting to strangle him for up and disappearing on her like that, she follows behind him. Confusion dances on her face and Suzuki loves to see Sayuri confused, so why isn't he turning around to see her? His pace gets faster and she finds herself skipping after him.

This.

Is.

Ridiculous!

She balls her fists together, making the next step she takes a furious stomp. "Hey! Are you listening to me? Why won't you stop! Suzuki—_fwaaah!_" She's cut short, due to a sign almost hitting her in the face. It sort of just sprung out of the wall in front of her, kind of like what Suzuki's rabbit ears did. The purple-haired girl grits her teeth, cursing to herself. Is everything trying to kill her today? First a clock, and now a random sign! Still, the sign raises a lot of questions... Sayuri doesn't forget her pursuit of Suzuki, but she takes her time to look at all of the random signs decorating the once bland hallway.

They're multicolored, hues of baby blue and tropical orange and rainbow red decorating twisty arrows and flowers popping up from out of nowhere behind her. Nothing is making sense anymore. She tries to decipher what the signs might mean, but there is simply too many of them. Four or five of them point backwards, another cluster of them point towards a window, another one of them point at _her_—it's too much to take at one time! The teenager almost trips over a cardboard box when she realizes trying to make sense of the hallway is utterly useless. Gritting her teeth, she starts to run after the king, taking a few seconds to secure her footing and then launching off the floor decorated in pastel yellow-colored tissue paper.

"Am I going insane?" she asks to particularly no one, shaking her head and smacking herself a few times. "Where the hell am I? And when did this hallway get so long!" Seriously. She must have been walking for about three minutes. It takes five _seconds_ to get to the staircase of her own home. Suzuki must have heard her—it'd be a crime for him not to—so she slows her pace a little bit, just in case he actually does want to turn around and answer her questions.

That doesn't happen.

He pulls out an expensive, polished silver pocket watch and glances at, his purple eyes widening. "How unfortunate," he murmurs with his normal, low, suave voice. Sayuri takes another close look at him and notices a chain hanging by the back of his neck. What... Isn't that something you wear when you don't want to lose your glasses? Suzuki has on _glasses_ now? Desperately, she rubs her eyes one last time, opening them up again. The purple-haired girl tries really hard to look past the many signs surrounding him, but she unconsciously reads them, signs that say "Straight ahead!" and "Come in, this way!" She notices Suzuki's now got white gloves on his hands—Sayuri's never been so confused in her life.

Since when did he change into those things?

She was just talking to him a minute ago!

"I'm going to be late, aren't I?" Is he talking to himself? Sayuri doesn't even know anymore. "Yep. I'm already two minutes and twenty seconds late. They're going to kill me." For a person that sounds worried about being late, he slips his pocket watch back into the confines of his pants nonchalantly, and then he starts walking insanely fast. Sayuri's jaw drops at the action and she reaches out towards him, running as fast as she can.

"Wait!" she implores, closing her eyes out of frustration. "Suzuki!"

No matter how fast she seems to run, it's like the hallway itself is sucking up all of her efforts. It just goes on and on, and more brightly-colored things start to pop up like stuff bent into the shapes of hearts wearing crowns, and paper mache pinatas hanging over her head in the shape of red and white roses. It all seems like a very bad dream from drinking too much fruit punch. Except she didn't have any fruit punch! She claws at her head, shaking it until she peers at the king again. "Tell me what's going on! I get faster, and I only seem to fall behind you! Wait for me you stupid... Stupid!"

Not in the right mood to tell intelligent jokes, she stops for a split second to catch her breath, watching Suzuki make a right turn.

The staircase!

Excellent.

She's bound to catch him there. Licking her lips and getting all sorts of devious thoughts in her head, Sayuri straightens herself out and dashes towards the corner, ignoring the signs hanging in the threshold of the hallway. The teenager made up her mind. As soon as she sees Suzuki walking down the steps, she's going to pounce on him, and then she'll have all of her questions answered. But it's not that easy. It's never that easy. She runs towards the corner, slides around it, and to her surprise she actually sees stairs. But they're not normal stairs.

The steps spawn teeth, scary, bloodstained teeth sharp enough to split her in two and she lets out a scream that compliments the apparent darkness the staircase has sucked her into. She trips backwards, reaching out for anything she can grab on—a curtain, perhaps? A painting?—but it's all useless. Sayuri finds herself falling down, but for how long before she completely splatters all over the pretty earth? It seems like she's been falling forever, but then a white light starts to reveal itself.

She doesn't splatter all over the ground like she thought she would, but now she's still falling. The space seems... Bigger. That still doesn't change the fact that she's now falling down with dozens of yellow and red juice boxes with bunny rabbit faces drawn on them. Now the juice boxes didn't look at all that tasty. They looked scary.

… Like Suzuki juice boxes!

In truth, she's oblivious to where she's going, that fool Alice!

She's going to a place where everything is backwards—where November showers bring February breezes, and December is the hottest time of the year. Where people go tanning during the crack of dawn and have breakfast at exactly twelve 'o clock in the morning. A place where, instead of quiet snow falling in late November, the snow comes crashing down in April while flowers bloom in autumn.

Children build sandcastles like skyscrapers on New Year's Eve and parents hide eggs in unsuspecting snowmens' stomachs.

A backwards, upside down twisted world.

Where nothing is ever as it should be.

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><p><strong><span>AN:** Argh! So this thing is a result of me being stupid and saying if anyone could answer a riddle right in CCFA that I'd write them whatever they wanted. XD;; Not only does** xx-Addict-For-Dramatics-xx** slaughter that whole thing, but she took it a step further and explained to me what happened in the chapter by strategically retelling the events, earning her an entire chapter-fic. XD;; Woe is me. At first I wasn't going to say anything, but she soon caught me.

Anyway, the request was sorta... Sane from what I thought she was going to ask me, which is good! XD;; A whole Alice in Wonderland thing with the cast of CCFA. Lovely. XD;; Anyway, I don't plan on this chapter-fic to be too long, though it might spawn to insane lengths if I'm not careful... XD;; I love the idea of this, though, and I already planned out all of my characters! XD;; Such fun this will be!

I love writing little spin-off stories. They're so amusing.

Especially White Rabbit!Suzuki! D'aaaaaw! XD;;;;; I thought he'd be perfect for the part, and I was so totally right! XD;; He's so cute and mini and aww. I've already got most of this thing written, so updating shouldn't be a problem! Have fun in Wonderland~!


	2. The Pool of Tears

Sayuri in Wonderland

Chapter One:

_The Pool of Tears_

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><p>She screams until there's no scream left in her. To be reduced to the point where her scream has gone on empty...! It's embarrassing. It's like when you get one a roller coaster and you know it's bad, but you hype yourself up trying to give yourself the mentality that the roller coaster won't be so bad. And then you get on the roller coaster, wait for it to get to the highest peak and scream. But then you realize that you've exhausted your scream and nothing else will come out. At that point, what<em> is<em> the point? Things aren't really scary anymore because if you can't express how much discomfort the roller coaster is giving you, then it's not worth it.

That would be the case if this was a roller coaster.

Actually, Sayuri's falling down what appears to be a purple-bluish hole. It doesn't just go one way—it does multiple twists and turns like a playground slide until finally, finally she sees a ray of hope. Another Godforsaken bright light. Oh, what joy. Falling face-first, she passes the light and tumbles into what appears to be hundreds and hundreds of Suzuki rabbit and juice box plushies. The purple-haired girl falls into the middle of the pile, her legs dangling in the air and her body folded and squished between two juice boxes. Her mouth involuntarily closes from the sheer force of the fall and she actually bounces off the pile of stuffed... Objects? She faceplants into the floor and stays there for a while, trying to adjust to the pain.

Her heart is beating out of her chest, begging for a way out. It's just that she thought she was going to die a few seconds ago, and then life teases her by throwing her into a nice, huge pile of convenient stuffed animals? Something like that couldn't possibly be real! Sayuri balls up her fists and lets out a sigh of semi-relief. Yeah. Sure. She's alive, but where is she? And more importantly, where did that snake of a rabbit boy go? She manages to stand up straight, albeit shaking. Her once long, lustrous purple hair is now tangled around her legs, much to her dismay. She straightens her hair out the best way she can, but her surroundings take all of her attention.

The sky.

The sky is not the sky.

The sky looks like a preschooler's vomit.

As Sayuri looks up at the sky around her, her jaw drops even more-so. Who painted the sky in stripes? One set of stripes is blue with pink polka-dots, and the other is purple with orange horizontal stripes, and the next big stripe is pink with white spades and the next line is blue-green with hot pink clovers that seem to jump out at her... It goes on forever and ever. While that's confusing in and of itself, she finds herself surrounded by several floating, brown doors. They're everywhere.

She has a short claustrophobia attack and puts her hand on her chest, looking around to see if there's anything else besides doors. "This is crazy..." she murmurs, watching a door do several back flips in mid-air. "Wh-where am I...?" She's forced to stop talking because this is all just so strange. There's doors standing on top of doors next to doors placed vertically in the middle of doors...! "The kitchen doesn't have all of these doors!" Sayuri insists, balling up her fists. Out of frustration, she stomps on the ground and a bright light shines underneath her foot.

Lights, she's come to realize, mean sudden death.

"Argh! Don't blow up on me!"

The purple-haired girl throws her arms on top of her head and closes her eyes shut, but after a while nothing seems to happen. Absolutely, positively nothing. Assuming it's safe, she opens her right eye slowly and peers at a newly-formed door underneath her. "Oh." Her eye twitches at the sheer irony of it all. "You stupid doors! Tell me how to get out of here now!" Silly Sayuri, doors don't talk. Or do they? It doesn't matter. She runs to the nearest door, which is one conveniently floating next to her that accommodates her size.

It's a door.

Doors open.

This one, however, doesn't. "Oh come on!" Another shout of frustration. "Open up for me, please?" The door doesn't listen to her and refuses to budge, causing Sayuri to pull and tug on it harder until the doorknob itself flies in the other direction, knocking against a door on the other side of this so-called 'room'. Irritated and still very confused, she jumps on top of a door floating horizontally in the air and starts stomping on it, pulling the knob and hoping it'll budge. It's stuck like glue. Eventually she lays on top of the thing and bangs her head into it, groaning. "What's with all the doors? Is there. One door. That can. Only open in this place?"

That realization is scary.

"I refuse to open all of these doors—!"

"—I can't believe that girl made me _this_ late." That voice sounds very familiar! Sayuri stands up straight and gazes at the ground. It's impossible for her not to see something on the ground in her peripheral vision, because she's always watching out for bugs and the like. She isn't really too fond of bugs. The little black thing that just ran past her didn't _look_ like a bug, though it had the size of one. "Who would have thought that me of all people would be late? I'm usually early for most things... Hoboy."

The little black dot runs back towards her, checking its watch and running faster. That's when Sayuri confirms it. Hey, it's Suzuki! But what the heck is he running towards? This doesn't amuse the purple-haired girl at all. If this is a prank, it's a very mean prank because she's very confused and angry._ Really_ confused and angry. "Suzuki!" she demands, snarling a bit. Her voice must have went through one of his rabbit ears and out of the other, because he makes his way between Sayuri's gym shoes and dashes towards a giant door behind her.

She snorts.

"There's no way you can reach the door—"

_Open._

"—knob."

_Shut._

"Well I'll be damned," she murmurs, looking at the smaller door built into the larger door. Sayuri folds her arms, tilting her head. "I didn't see that thing there. Well, I guess there's really only one way to go." Yep. Only one way to go. This could be dangerous. Catastrophic. She doesn't know what's on the other side of that door, and by the looks of things, neither does Suzuki. Speaking of him... Sayuri puts her hands on her hips, huffing. "Hey! I can't believe that jerk ignored me! A whole bunch, too! Does he think that's supposed to be funny?" She folds her arms, looks the other way and pouts, but that tiny door still irritates her. The teenage girl insists she's not angry, but her kick to the miniature door disproves that.

"Stupid door!"

If felt good, to be able to take her frustration out on something, but now her foot is throbbing in pain. On instinct, she grabs her foot and starts jumping around, being sure not to bump into doors but that too was difficult to do. She bumps her head into a floating door, falling on the ground and sighing. "I hate this," she says in a daze. The doors in the air look like stars.

"Alice! Aliiice! Are you okay?"

"A-Alice...?" Sayuri mutters, looking at the sky and not bothering to budge. She found herself in that position a lot lately. The voice sounded familiar. It was feminine and high-pitched... Sort of squeaky, too... Bah. Sayuri's in too much pain to try to move. The purple-haired girl lets out a lethargic sigh and sees two chocolate-colored eyes peer over her. Light-brown hair spills over the girl's neck, but it isn't long enough to touch Sayuri's face. Good. Sayuri's tired of being touched by foreign objects. But wait. Isn't that...

Sayuri scrambles up to her knees, astonished for a while, and the glasses-wearing girl wraps her arms around Sayuri tightly, grinning from ear to ear as if she's a lost friend she hasn't seen in a while. And that might be true, considering that she's—

"C-Chio?" Sayuri stutters, blinking spastically. The girl hugging the Summoner of Time surely does_ look_ like Chio. Except she has two big, round, protruding mouse ears on top of her head and a matching grey tail that has a pink bow tie wrapped on it. Her dress is full of colors, which isn't a surprise, considering that it's Chio. Yellow gloves cover her arms up to her elbows and her cream-colored bustier dress is fitted with a matching bowtie stuck on the top of her dress. It features a satin, baby-doll pink silhouette with support boning and a pleated, ruffled bodice that stretches out into a tutu-looking skirt.

"Chio?" Another voice? "Who is that? The woman standing in front of you is Miss Dormouse." The shock of seeing Chio with mouse ears isn't anything compared to what she sees standing a few feet away. Standing there in all of her glory is calm, collected, pink-eyed Miyuki. Except she looks downright hilarious. Not in a funny way... It's just weird for Sayuri to actually see her Guardian in a dress. Especially a dress that shows so much cleavage... It's blue and white and looks like an old-school peasant dress. Except it has a blueberry print and white feathers at the bottom of it and reaches past her knees. Feathers...?

Sayuri takes another look and realizes Miyuki doesn't have her cat ears _or_ tail.

It's like she's practically naked, standing in front of her!

"My eyes!" Sayuri shouts, shielding them. The mysterious Miyuki look-alike waves her hand out dismissively, a bit irritated by Sayuri's banter.

"I'm Dodo."

"Do...do?" As much as a fitting name that is for Miyuki, that isn't her real name, and she would never call herself that! The purple-haired girl worms her way out of Chio's death grip, shaking her head and rubbing her eyes. She knows rubbing her eyes doesn't really work in these situations, but it's worth a try, right? Chio's mouth turns into the shape of an 'o' and she stares at Sayuri, her eyes shining brightly.

"You're okay! I thought you hurt yourself, Alice, honestly I did. Dodo and I didn't know what to do when we saw you hit the door like that. You sure do know how to hurt yourself." Yes, and Chio sure did know how to deny Sayuri of any personal space... The Summoner of Time was practically pressed up against the door, trying to catch her breath from breaking out of Chio's lock. "Alice, we've been looking everywhere for you—huh?" The Summoner of Convene's eyes hover over Sayuri's plain, grey hoodie and blue jeans. There's an immediate disapproval. "Why are you dressed so weird, Alice? It looks so... Icky."

"Weird?" Sayuri asks, quirking a brow. Is she trying to insult Sayuri's sense of style? "I always dress like this! And furthermore, who the hell is this Alice person you keep talking about? I'm not Alice!" Damn straight she's not Alice. And Sayuri doesn't wake up in the morning and dress up just for Chio. If Chio doesn't like what she's wearing, then that's her problem. The purple-haired girl finds it strange that—while the three of them are talking—the doors are still floating behind them in the background. Do they ever stop doing that...?

Chio stands up and Sayuri gets a look at her yellow boots. They match her gloves. "Alice, don't be silly! You're you, okay? Dodo and I have known you for such a long time, remember? We used to do everything together. Wow, that fall must have gave you short-term memory loss." The more Sayuri listens to Chio, the more her frown deepens. All Chio does is smile. "Don't worry!" she declares, nodding her head. "We'll help you find your memory, and you'll remember who you are again! Alice is Alice who met Dormouse and Dodo who is Alice but... Um..." How the hell does one confuse themselves while trying to make another person non... Confused? The glasses-wearing girl shakes her head and prods Sayuri's noise, making her shut her eyes.

This is going nowhere, fast.

"Alice is you! You are Alice!" She turns around triumphantly, her mouse tail swaying underneath her dress. Sayuri pales. So that thing _is_ real...? "Like, like we're taught in school at the Mouse Academy. In the books that I read! You have to take in everything around you Alice. Like a sponge." She pauses, spinning on the heels of her boots and wagging her finger around like a school teacher would. "Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor and dish washing liquid made with real lemons?"

"I uh..."

"Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour? Can you cry underwater? Oh, Dodo!" Her attention is instantly pulled over to her bird companion, and so she does an innocent twirl towards her orange-haired friend. "I would love to go swimming! We should arrange that right away. Oh, a whole entire place underwater! I feel so lucky to be a mouse that can swim!" Wait, so does that mean that they're underwater?

"So... Err... Chio," Sayuri says, shaking her head and touching her knees. "Does this mean that we're all dead?"

"Dead?" Chio shouts, shoving her face right in front of Sayuri's. Which is strange, considering _she was on the other side of the room with Miyuki..._ It startles the purple-haired girl, to be honest. "Hmm? Dead? Wouldn't that be a tale to tale on the tip of my tail! Ha, no, silly Alice! We're in Wonderland! Doesn't it look like Wonderland?" What the hell is a Wonderland? Sayuri's never been to a Wonderland! Especially one with floating doors that assault you when you're not looking. First clocks, then stuffed bunnies and juice boxes, and then... Doors! Chio throws her arms in the air, grinning like a mad man.

That isn't a good sign.

"After we get you changed, Alice, we'll have tea!"

"But I don't like tea!"

"A tea party isn't a tea party without tea."

"Shut up Miyu—" A menacing glare from Miyuki makes Sayuri close her mouth. "—I mean, Dodo! I don't want to go to a stupid—" Sniffs from Chio can be heard. Sayuri's eyes instantly soften and she reaches out for her friend, a frown on her face. Tears threaten to fall out of Chio's wide, chocolate-colored eyes. "I'm sorry, Chio! Please don't cry, please? I was only kidding!" The smile's back again, but this time Sayuri feels herself being... Tampered with? She can't properly explain it. All she knows is that she's sitting in a white chair. In a garden. And in this garden there are lots of flower bushes and roses. Not that any of that matters, anyway.

Her clothes.

They magically changed. Her hoodie and jeans have been put away and replaced with a blue, apron dress. The only thing funny about this dress—besides how it magically appeared on her body—is the dark-blue, corset-style buckle waist clincher. Of course the dress reveals her cleavage—it makes Sayuri feel uncomfortable, but the fact that it's a decent length eases her worries somewhat. She pulls at the blue choker around her neck and gazes at her knee-high, white and black striped stockings. This is going to be a long day.

"What the hell just happened!" she exclaims, looking at her blue-painted fingernails. In a frenzy, she touches the black bow tie headband on top of her head, noticing how pin-straight her long, purple hair is.

It falls down her back like a calm waterfall—it's tamed now, unlike it was when Chio glomped her to near death. Giant balls of... Ice cream dance in the pink sky and Sayuri stares at the multiple sweets on the table, taking note on how the blue tablecloth is seemingly dripping down on the ground. This is creepy, not—

"So cute!" Chio chimes, clapping her hands together. Instead of the two sitting at one table, they're both sitting at two separate circular tables pushed together. The food looks... Dangerous. Very dangerous. Sayuri's usually suspicious of food in general when it's made by someone other than her mother. She was sure that Chio didn't make the food, and neither did Miyuki. It just came out of nowhere, just like the multicolored floating orbs shaped like stars and... Circles. The Summoner of Convene picks up a chocolate... Something.

It's something Sayuri hasn't seen before, obviously.

"Look at it Alice! So smooth... Just like you, if you were made from it!"

Chio starts to laugh.

Sayuri's on the verge of weeping.

There was nothing funny about that joke. It sounded a bit too cannibalistic. She's had people try to eat her before, after all. "It's like a gift from heaven! Velvet and sweet, enticing and layered in complete darkness over a soft, squishy inside... Powdered in glory—it almost looks like white dust! Mmm! There's a life experience packed into one bite. Wow, I can't believe it! It has several layers, and each one is different from the other. And better! It makes me feel like I'm floating...!"

Sayuri's at a loss of words. "Oka—"

"I'm going to_ eat you, _Sayuri!"

The apparent lightning cracking in the background, mixed with the innocence of Chio's voice creates a really bad whiplash. The Summoner of Time jumps out of her chair, looking for an exit from the garden, but all she sees is pink and red roses. And ice cream cones in the sky. And Miyuki, who's standing next to Chio's chair, serving her some kind of cake...? Sayuri blinks, and in an instant she has a piece of cake identical to hers. "At least, that's what the cake says, huh? Right, Alice!"

Yes, the cake...

Sayuri slowly sits back down and stares at it. It looks like a cupcake actually, what with it being placed in a holder thing like one. It's pink and yellow striped, with blue icing dripping down the body of it. There's a tiny mouse figure on the side of it, and a huge, yellow rose on top of it made from sparkling icing. The most important part of the cake is the pink sign sticking from it. The one that says "EAT ME" in fancy letters. Ignoring the floating pictures and mirrors and ice cream cones in the pink sky, Sayuri quirks her nose.

"Fff," she mutters, glaring at it with emerald eyes. "Does she actually expect me to eat this thing? It looks like death on wheels. Sheesh, I'm glad she's so occupied with Miyuki now, because if she heard me she'd have an absolute fit. Seriously though, it looks too... Too bright. Too happy. Definitely not something I want to eat..." Sayuri trails off, looking in Miyuki's direction. What kind of Guardian is she?

"It's not going to kill you, you know," she deadpans. "Just try it. I'm sure you of all people would like it, Alice."

"I'm not eating this crap!" Sayuri declares, getting up and throwing her napkin on the table. "And furthermore, you can take this cake and shove it up your—"

"Dodo, it looks wonderful! I think I might have a bite now!"

Eyes widen.

Hands start reaching out.

"Chio! No, stop it!" The Summoner of Convene sticks the entire cake with a fork, and stuffs it in her mouth, chewing happily on it. Yellow crumbs are stuck to her cheeks... Not that she seems to mind, anyway. After about virtually three seconds, the brunette seems to swallow it all down. Now the question is... Is she okay? Flabbergasted, Sayuri falls back down in her chair, touching her forehead with her fingertips.

"Tastes just like cheese!" she exclaims with a gulp. "Ah, Alice, you don't know what you're missing! It's very—I don't know how to say it. It tastes like sugar and chocolate and gummy bears and Oreos and chips—Cheetos!" Sayuri's eye twitches. "And tacos and... Hamburgers and... French fries! Snails too. And doughnuts! I taste a little bit of seafood in it too. You should give it a try!" she implores with a wink, waving her fork around.

"No offense, Chio, but that sounds terrible," Sayuri replies, poking her cheek and hoping Chio won't get mad. Actually, Chio just tilts her head and lets out a cute, innocent giggle. But the giggle doesn't last very long. Her smile completely vanishes off her face and Sayuri starts to frown.

She promises herself she won't run away, but she finds herself looking around the garden for any potential exits. Again. The mouse girl stands coughing, much to Miyuki and Sayuri's dismay. The purple-haired girl's eyes start to widen. This is Chio's Trance Mode all over again!

"Holy crap we're all gonna die!" she shrieks, diving head-first underneath the table. Miyuki rolls her eyes and puts her hand on Chio's shoulder, making sure she's okay.

"Is something wrong, Dormouse?"

"I-I just... Feel really weird... Tingly... Like... _Kyaaaaa!_" The unthinkable happens. Along with Chio letting out an ear-splitting scream, both of the tables are knocked over and her chair cracks from underneath the pressure of her suddenly-humongous backside. While still stuck in a scream, Chio starts to grow.

And grow.

And grow.

And grow...

Miyuki simply just looks at her, staying calm. Cool. Collected. Sayuri curses under her breath and dashes the other way, leaving the food and hiding underneath a bush. The clatter of the silverware scares the purple-haired girl for a moment, but then she realizes how freakin' tall Chio is now.

From the sheer shock of it all, Sayuri falls over into the bush and gazes at her friend's grey tail. If Chio were to smack Sayuri with that tail, she'd fly for _miles_. The confused brunette looks down at Miyuki and Sayuri, and then she looks at herself, her smile instantaneously turning into an upside down 'v'. "Ohmiigosh! What happened! Someone! Anyone?" Her voice is like... Gale-force winds, damn near! Sayuri can barely stand when Chio starts talking!

"Miss Dormouse!"

"Chio!"

Sayuri might be scared out of her mind, but there's no way she's going to leave her friend like that. She dashes towards Chio and stops as soon as she decides to kneel and start crying, covering her big, brown eyes with her gloved hands. "Al-Al-Aliice! I-I'm so big that...! I won't be able to finish attending to the te-te-tea party! Waaaah!" Other than Chio's voice being enough to knock Sayuri into next week, it also echoes. The Summoner of Convene has been reduced to tears, her face red and her cheeks stained in saltwater.

And then that's when they fall.

Huge, crystal-clear orbs sixty times Sayuri's size, rolling towards her. The orb is so fast that Sayuri doesn't even get a chance to run. It collides into her and she flies backwards into a tree, letting out a cry of anguish before staring at Chio. The glasses-wearing girl's crying is more important than any pain Sayuri might feel. "Chio, don't cry, it'll be okay, I'll—gaah!" A tear smashes Sayuri into the tree, and then another, and another, and another. Things aren't going right for her, at the moment. Chio's only just started crying and the garden is_ full_ of translucent tears, each new one bouncing from her eyes like basketballs.

"Don't cry, Dormouse," Miyuki says in a half-shout, but it still sounds like she's just talking. Sayuri scowls. How is Miyuki going to help anyone with that sort of scream? It isn't even a scream! The Summoner of Time doubts Chio even heard her. "We can finish the tea party, even if you're big. It doesn't change the fact that you're still an important person—an important aspect to the party itself." Oh, there she goes again. Trying to sound smart. Even in this so-called Wonderland Sayuri doesn't like Miyuki. Useless Guardian is right; she can't even prevent Chio from turning into a big giant!

"But but but—!" Chio sobs. "I want to hug Alice over and over and over again forever! If I'm this big, All I'll do is crush her, and I don't want to crush Alice! She's my best friend, and I don't want to see her broken in a bloody mess!" Damn straight! Sayuri doesn't want to end up in a broken, bloody mess either! It's very sweet to know Chio cares about her so much, but it's beside the point.

"You won't break me, Chio!" Sayuri yells as loud as she can, waving her arms in the air. She's sure Chio still can't see her, but it's worth a try, right?

"Waahaaaaa!"

"Holy crap!" the purple-haired girl yells in frustration. She looks at Miyuki, and then she frowns. "What else is there that we can do? In a second, I'm about to die a death due to stoning! Uh, stoning by tears! Can't you see Miyuki? It's getting a little stuffy in here!" The orange-haired woman stares at Sayuri, and Sayuri stares back. "Oh God! I knew you would be useless—_mpfft!_"

"Remember to thank me."

A couple of incoherent, mumbled words later, Sayuri pulls the blue vial out of her mouth. Licking the top row of her teeth, she clutches it with her petite fingers and stares at the tag on it. It says "DRINK ME" just like the cake did. So this will help bring Chio back to normal? It doesn't matter. Sayuri narrows her eyes, takes a few steps back, and then she throws her best football throw. "Hey, Chio! Catch!"

"Huh?"

It's amazing Sayuri even had enough room to attempt to throw the starry-blue drink towards Chio, but she managed it. While Chio lets out that squeak of a reply, the drink conveniently flies into her mouth, causing all of the tear bubbles to burst.

Sayuri's first thought?

"I'm going to drown!" she exclaims, letting a tidal wave completely overtake her. She can't tell if Chio is shrinking back to normal or not—half of her doesn't care. The only thing she's focused on is the fact that she really didn't know how to swim, and Miyuki isn't anywhere in sight. The purple-haired girl starts to sputter, flailing her arms. She doesn't even know where to start with trying to keep herself afloat. She's choking, hacking, and there's a burning sensation bubbling from inside of her sinking throat.

It seems like all hope is lost, but the saltwater of Chio's tears starts tasting... Bittersweet. Her eyes close a bit and she can envision it. Tastier than vanilla and butterscotch—better than cheesecake and pie... It's thick and smells like heaven, coated in a dark brown... Maybe Chio was right. Maybe it does taste like gummy bears and chips at the same time.

Sayuri will never really understand the world's infatuation with chocolate.

And she frowns as she drifts into nothingness.

* * *

><p><strong><span>AN:** I-I wasn't really expecting such a big response...

XD;; So, so, I really do like Chio. I think that she's my favorite Summoner out of the bunch we have so far because she's... Strange. XD;; She likes strange things and likes reading strange books. Thus, she learns strange things from said strange books and tada! But they have to be mystical and wonderful and all of that jazz, else she'll be upset. XD;; Like how Zed tried to make her read that one book! And no I'm not being biased because of that epic Trancing she did... XD;; *shot* Though I had to throw a Trance reference in there. XD;;;

I liked writing this chapter. It's slightly longer than the prologue (about 2,000 words longer) but it's a decent length. Much shorter than the normal, standard CCFA chapters, and I guess it's because there's not a whole lot of action. XD;; Chio as Miss Dormouse was a definite choice. XD; I don't know why, but I thought she'd fit the part. Especially since I'm not doing the whole traditional "Alice in Wonderland" thing. Truthfully, I've seen the Disney movie a long, long time ago when I was six or something. XD;; Therefore, I haven't properly seen anything legit. XD; Chio's so adorable as Miss Dormouse, and Miyuki as Dodo was... Impulsive. XD;;

I have to agree with our purple-haired Alice, though. XD;;

Miyuki just isn't the same without her cat ears. XD;

Sayuri should really learn how to swim, though. I'm mad she still can't. XD;;


	3. A Caucus Race and a Long Tale

Sayuri in Wonderland

Chapter Three:

_A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale_

* * *

><p>Sayuri never imagined her death to be like this. She had always pictured the perfect scene. If she was to die, she had made up her mind that she must die on a Friday. And it will be in the afternoon! No, it<em> must <em>be in the afternoon, because the afternoon is the best time of the day. Some people might pick Thursday to die on since Friday is supposed to be the best day of the week, considering how school ends, but nope. She doesn't want to die with all of them. It'd be too crowded. Too stuffy. The purple-haired girl isn't too fond of dying with a bunch of people she doesn't even know.

She could die on Saturday, but she's got important things to do on Saturday, like choir practice with Suzuki and playing board games with her mother, and, for one, she can't just up and drop herself dead in the middle of planting flowers. Kohana would probably love that, though. She can't die while trying to hit a high note in the middle of the mall, either, because her legs'll hurt from standing up too much, and she can't die while her legs are aching.

Sunday would be a good day to die on too, but everyone spends their days sleeping in on Sunday and Sayuri's no different. Anyway, she has to wake up early after that and she's got something to do the next day! So she'll just settle for Friday, because Friday's the best time to die. Unanimously. But wait... What day is it in this so-called 'Wonderland'? Her eyes take their time opening and as soon as they do, she's virtually smacked in the face by the sun's rays. Amazingly, she doesn't feel wet, and that's because she isn't. The bows of her dress are just as free and floaty as they'll ever be, and her hair isn't the least bit puffy.

She should be happy—to know that she's still alive and breathing—but she's just shocked. Plain ol' shocked. Not only is she sitting in a brightly-colored boat, but she has two paddles in her hands, feeling the strength of the water push her arms back slightly. There's no sign of land anywhere. The garden seems to have disappeared completely and all she sees is water. High water. Sayuri's sure if she fell into the water she'd drown a frightening, chocolate-saltwatery death, compliments of Chio. Speaking of Chio...!

Not so worried about herself anymore, her eyes dance around the ocean to be met with the mouse girl wearing orange floaties on her arms and legs, laying horizontally in the water and splashing around. Her big, wide, chestnut-colored eyes find the purple of Sayuri's hair and she waves her arm out towards her, her grin splitting her face. "Aliiiice!" The teenager sighs. Well, at least she knows Chio's all right and back to normal. "Alice, over here! The water is fine!" Next to Chio she spots Miyuki, who is short to begin with. The water may only go up to Chio's chin—but that's because she's tall.

Miyuki's short.

Really short.

And that's why she's standing on some kind of juice box thing. What's with this place and juice boxes? Sayuri shakes her head, feeling a headache coming on. This place makes about as much sense as... Sudoku. Still, how the heck did she end up in a boat? She can't swim, that much she knows, and... Argh, maybe Suzuki went back for her and saved her? Or maybe it was Chio and Miyuki. Whatever. It doesn't matter anymore. She's not choking and dying, and that's good enough for her. "Chio, I don't think I can get in the water with you," she says, scratching the back of her head and putting on a nervous smile. "I can't swim."

"Can't swim?" The Summoner of Convene mouth turns into the shape on an 'o'. "Dodo and I will teach you—!"

"No!" And it's a loud no. Sayuri refuses to be taught how to swim by a mouse and a dodo. No matter how hilarious it would probably look. It's not that she doesn't trust them... It's that she really doesn't trust them. Chio takes what Sayuri said the wrong way again and starts to tear up, but the purple-haired girl's attention is pulled elsewhere. Sayuri lets go of her paddles and stands up straight, putting her hand over her eyes to get a better look at the foreign object heading their way. The good news is that the sky is blue, so now she won't get distracted by it as much.

It's a clear, cloudless blue.

She hasn't seen the sky like this since... Well... Since she was in her room complaining about the heat. The foreign mass comes closer to the three and Sayuri narrows her eyes, trying her best to ignore the glare of the sun. It looks like a boat! A large, white boat with three people manning it. There's one thing Sayuri can make out though. There's a girl standing at the end of the boot with her arms folded. She's wearing a black dress that's full of purple ruffles that stops at her mid-thigh. The dress also has lace-up details on the sides of it. What catches Sayuri's eyes are the red wings protruding out of her back, disrupting the flow of her wavy, brown hair.

The Summoner of Time can spot those thick eyebrows from miles away.

She can't believe this shit.

Not very enthusiastic about seeing Morta turned into some kind of red bird, she plops down into the boat and grabs one of the paddles. As the boat approaches, she can hear sounds of multiple voices. They seem to be singing songs. It definitely sounds like Kokoro, Damien, and Ruby. Great. That's the whole team sitting inside of that boat, and they're going to meet up with her any second now. The sound of the ocean moving isn't comforting at all. It's only aggravating her further. The huge, white boat stops next to her smaller one and Ruby and Kokoro's faces light up at the sight of her.

Sayuri's expression bleeds sarcasm.

Kokoro jumps up and almost tips over at the sight of the purple-haired girl, waving his arms out and grinning. He's expecting Sayuri to say something, but she just stares at him with a this-must-be-a-joke look. It's a very intimidating look. The Summoner of Fire has a pair of wings too, but they're much bigger than Morta's. They look like angel wings with the way they stretch across the sky. The big dumb stupid white checkered bow tie he's wearing doesn't help Sayuri take him seriously, either.

"Hey, Alice!" Kokoro greets, waving his arm in the air spastically, despite Sayuri sitting right in front of him in her boat. "Where have you been? We've been searching all over for you!" Well, that's interesting, considering Chio and Miyuki are floating in the water right behind her. Weren't they looking for those guys too? The Summoner of Fire lets out a nervous sigh and tilts his head, his hazel eyes glinting in the sunlight. "Really, I would have never thought you of all people would have enough strength to direct an entire boat...!"

Sayuri doesn't move an inch, nor does her facial expression change. Kokoro's seriously concerned about her at this point, so he waves his hand in front of her face. "Hello!"

"Ah, just leave the girl alone, Eagle." That voice... The purple-haired girl diverts her attention to Damien, who is still sitting down in the boat with his arms behind his back. He's wearing some kind of stupid hat. It looks like a cross between a pirate hat and a sombrero. And plus, it has miniature juice boxes hanging from the ends of it. He doesn't have wings—thank God—but he's wearing this puffy thing around his neck. Sayuri has no idea what it is, but it looks silly.

Wait.

Did Damien just call Kokoro "Eagle"? This is starting to get ridiculous now. "She's probably brain dead. I say we chuck her overboard."

"What... Wait a minute!" Sayuri protests, busting out of her frozen state. Now she's frowning. "I am _not_ brain dead, you stupid idiot! I'm perfectly okay! What the hell are you wearing, Damien? You look like a drunken sailor!" Sayuri closes her eyes, laughing silently to herself. "What, did you dress yourself in the dark with your eyes closed this morning?" That joke was perfectly legit! And it was funny! Too bad everyone else didn't seem to think so. Ruby, Kokoro and Damien look confused.

"Who's Damien?" Ruby questions, tapping her index-finger on her lips. Apparently the redhead is also another mouse. Sayuri makes note of Ruby's white ears and how they contrast with Chio's. They're not bigger than hers, and Chio's tail is a bit longer than Ruby's. "Are you talking about Duck?" she giggles, covering her hand over her mouth. "I tell him not to dress with the lights off too, but he never listens to me."

"Hey, I thought this was about Alice!" Damien snaps, looking at the red-eyed girl. Sayuri sighs. Oh boy. This could take forever.

"Um, yeah!" Kokoro chimes, throwing his arm in the air. "We are talking about Alice!" The brunette swings his arm around, not paying any attention whatsoever to Ruby. He almost smacks her in the face. "It's just... Alice is being really confusing right now." Sayuri scowls, grabs both of her paddles and looks into the endless sea.

There has to be a way to get out of this damn Wonderland.

Nothing makes sense here, and she's not going to bust her butt putting together puzzle pieces that refuse to fit together. Not only is that not fun, it's stupid.

"I'm not acting stupid," she deadpans, snarling a bit. "I'm trying to make sense out of this nonsensical place! Okay, so maybe I am acting stupid for being here...!" Frustrated, she throws one of the paddles on the boat and lets out a deep sigh. "Do any of you have a clue as to how we can get out of this stupid lake?" She claws her fingers through her hair. "I'm going to lose my brain, and it will fry, I tell you! Fry!" Sayuri tries to ignore Chio's constant "ooos" and "awws" at the sound of the Summoner of Time's voice (She must think it sounds "cute". Cute is her new favorite word.) but they're invading her personal thoughts.

"Your brain, Alice?" Woah. Morta spoke for the first time ever. It was so random it sent chills up and down Sayuri's spine. "Do you have any idea what your brain does?"

"What kind of question is that?" Sayuri hisses, folding her arms and scoffing. "Of course I do! It's my brain! I use it everyday. But if you keep talking I might just up and throw it at you. That's possible in this 'Wonderland', isn't it?"

"_Possible in Wonderland?_!"

Ruby, Kokoro, and Damien shout that at the same time, as if they're surprised Sayuri would even say anything like that.

It's creepy.

Very creepy.

What is with all of these animal people coming out of nowhere and saying stuff all simultaneously anyway?

Damien stands up and closes his eyes dramatically, waving his hand in the air. "Alice, your brain is one of the most important and essential members of your team, but you don't give it any credit! Stupid, he might not do anything glamorous, but he allocates the resources that run your body!" Since when is Sayuri's brain a guy? "He's responsible for overseeing a vast network of blood vessels and lymphatic systems, digestive organs, chemicals, pumping systems, heating and cooling, pressure and release!"

"W-what?" the purple-haired girl asks, shocked. "Did you just say something smart, Damien?"

"Errhmm!"

"Oh. Sorry. Keep going."

"Your brain is the one that makes you angry and tense and mean in traffic when you told it your commute was only fifteen minutes long and it's really twenty-four minutes long. Your brain believes you even though you're a squirrel no-good liar. Your brain planned on fifteen minutes, and it's now fourteen and a half and_ the objective has been compromised!_ It pumps extra adrenaline and chemicals all around you—even though you have been telling it the stupid fifteen minute lie for over four months! Your brain relies on you as much as you rely on it, and when you repeatedly lie to it, it freaks out! Severely! Why would you ask a stupid question like that, Sayuri? You can't just chuck your brain at people!"

"Oh, I'm sorry Damien, what did you say? I wasn't listening." Sayuri looks at the blue nail polish on her fingernails and then sighs, stretching. "You didn't have to give me a stupid, boring story on how my brain works." Kokoro steps in front of Damien, successfully knocking him into the boat. Transparent bird symbols float behind him in the sky and Sayuri's face contorts. D-did that really just happen?

"You could always throw a rock at him! That'd lay Duck out clean!"

"Eagle, we're not trying to get rid of one of our own," Morta insists, brushing her hair behind her ears. "I was just trying to prove a point when I brought up the comment about Sayuri's brain. That's all."

"Lory's right!" Ruby exclaims, dusting her hands off and glancing at Damien. "Though I have to admit, I like Duck when he's laid out and not talking. Makes him less of an annoying little boy!"

"I am not a little boy!"

"But your brain is!"

"At least I'm not talking about throwing it at you!"

"I'm not Alice, Alice is over there!"

Sayuri touches her forehead with her fingertips, watching her teammates bicker. Kokoro manages to find a rock at the bottom of the boat and picks it up, shoving it into the rays of the sun. "I bet a rock has the same force as a brain if you throw it at someone!"

"Don't lie!" Damien hisses. "A brain is so powerful that if it's thrown, I bet it'd knock someone right out of the water."

"You all sound like idiots," Morta interjects, folding her arms. Ruby, Kokoro, and Damien's feelings are crushed for a moment, but it isn't long before they get their enthusiasm back. The Summoner of Fire clutches the rock like a prize, staring down his teammates like they're his newly-found enemies.

"I bet you twenty bucks that if you hit Alice with this rock, she'll be unconscious in less than ten minutes." Sayuri chokes on the air. Why would anyone want to hit her in the head with a random rock? It doesn't make any sense. This doesn't make any sense! Tears start to fill up her eyes. If she loses it now, everything she's done so far will mean nothing. She has to find Suzuki and get him to turn everything back to normal. After all, weird stuff started happening as soon as he started morphing into that rabbit thing.

"Deal. Sixty on Alice's boat tipping over and her drowning before anyone can save her!" Ruby declares, swiping her arm across the air. Oh sure, because drowning and dying a horrible death is much saner then being hit with a rock and passing out.

"I put one hundred on you both being wrong and a fight breaking out, turning Alice into little tiny pieces! Along with her brain!"

"All three of you are going straight to hell!" Sayuri shouts over them, stomping on the boat and seething. "How can you guys have a normal conversation about different ways that I'll end up dead? What kind of friends are you?" The Summoners look at their leader. Are they supposed to answer that question, or is it rhetorical? _She's_ the one that seems to have lost her mind. What with her giving them weird nicknames?

What kind of nickname is 'Damien', anyway? Is that a fruit?

"Errrrr!" The Summoner of Time shakes her head and balls up her fists. "This is stupid! Stop it! Stop it right now!"

"Waaaah! I'm sorry Alice! It's all my fault!" Chio wails, holding her hands over her eyes to stop her tears from falling. Chio's voice sounded too close. Way too close. Sayuri turns around and Miyuki and Chio are sitting in _her_ boat. The glasses-wearing mouse girl is bowing her head, trying to make Sayuri feel better. It isn't working. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm the one that's being stupid right now! I-if I h-hadn't made this big river, we wouldn't be having such silly conversations!" Not wanting Chio to create another river from hell, Sayuri waves her arms in the air, almost falling over both of them.

"Chio, no, don't! It's not your fault—!"

"Hey! Well what do you know? There's Mr. White Rabbit!"

What. Ruby better be lying. But by the way she's pointing out towards the sea, it doesn't look like it. Sayuri's green eyes roam to the left.

Looks like Ruby was telling the truth after all.

But wait.

They're all sitting in boats because of the water.

Suzuki's _running across the water,_ the tails of his black coat swaying behind him. He's wearing those thin-rimmed, black glasses, and his rabbit ears are sticking up in the air. He had to have heard Ruby call his name. Relieved, Sayuri smiles, waving her arms in the air. Finally, someone sane will come and save her! Every step he takes makes the water ripple under his feet.

"I don't believe this...!" Sayuri mutters, watching as he does a skip across the water, spins, and then stops right in front of their boats for a split second before making another leap. Who does Suzuki think he is? Jesus? Kokoro, Chio, and Ruby watch him in awe. Damien rolls his eyes, irritated by the White Rabbit's little show.

"What does that old rabbit think he's doing?" the Summoner of Lightning carps, huffing. "It's amazing he can still move!"

"It only proves that this river is standing on top of rocks!" Kokoro declares. "Rocks can do anything the brain can do, but better!"

"You're both wrong! See, if that's Mr. Rabbit, Tortoise is going to be here any moment now." Ruby nods her head, sure of her claim.

Sayuri was listening to their banter, until she got another look at Suzuki's watch chain hanging out of his pocket. She hyperventilates—because she forgot to call Suzuki's name—and stands up, frowning.

"Hey, Suzuki! Come back! Don't leave me with these guys! I'm so confused, and I don't think I'll last much longer! They keep talking about brains and rocks and land and rivers and...!" This is hopeless. Suzuki's never going to stop for her, so she takes matters into her own hands. She grabs both of the paddles and scowls, but something akin to an explosion rips a hole through her concentration.

Chio's the first person to stand up. For some reason, she doesn't look miserable anymore. She's not smiling either. The Summoner of Convene opens the palm of her hand and a light-blue, slender rod appears in it. It's her staff. Sayuri looks up in horror at the wide-eyed brunette and backs away from her, exhaling.

Chio and frowning should never go together.

"That sound came from over there. It belonged to that beast of nature."

"B-beast of nature?" Sayuri yelps. The purple-haired girl looks out in the water and she sees it. It's a big, hulking black ball. It has a pair of bat wings, but other than that it looks like a round, bouncy ball with two beady dots for eyes and a mouth in the shape of an overturned '3'. It lets out another Apocalyptic scream, shaking Sayuri's soul. The black thing is rushing towards them, fast. A full-course collision is imminent.

She's scared, of course, but Sayuri takes another look at the thing, realizing what it is. "What the! … That's _Alula!_"

"Yep! That's the big bad beast of the sea!" Ruby says, waving her staff to the side. It morphs into a giant harpoon. What the heck is she planning to do with that? "I bet it has both rocks and brains!"

… Didn't they hear the Summoner of Time?

That's Alula! That's not a monster!

Sayuri stands up straight, shakes her head, and screams at the top of her lungs, "Alula! Stop! If you run into us, I'm going to be pissed! I can't swim!"

The purple-haired girl's plea falls on deaf ears. … She isn't really sure Alula has ears. The waves crashing around Alula's circular body look menacing; if Sayuri gets hit with them, it'll be the last of her. The water around her will fill her boat and she'll have nothing to cling onto. Her boat is the difference between life and death, and she doesn't want to see death. At least, not yet.

"It's a Wicked Spawn!" Morta produces her scythe of doom, and it looks much sharper than it did before. Sayuri only hopes Morta doesn't forget who her friends are in this fight, because if she accidentally lops Sayuri's head off...!

"Don't let your guard down!" Miyuki chants, summoning her deck of cars. Wait a second, if they get to summon their weapons, then why the hell can't Sayuri summon her wand? She shakes her hands over and over and over again, but she has no such luck producing her sparkly magic stick. The teenage girl curses under her breath, watching Kokoro salute her Guardian. He's holding his Conflagration Orb, which means that even _he_ can summon his weapon. That's disgraceful! "It's just a small Wicked Spawn, don't let it intimidate you."

"No problem, Garfield." That joke was funny the first few times Damien said it, but now it's just getting old. The purple-haired girl shakes her head and balls up her fists, seething at her team.

"What the heck are you guys so scared for? It's just Alula—_arhaufahaaa!_" Before Sayuri can finish her sentence, one of Alula's wings start to flicker. A beam of purple light flies in their direction and cuts a section of the ocean in half, which makes the Summoners on the other boat gulp.

Chio's not having it.

She waves her staff in the air and Sayuri watches it glow a bright blue.

"The one that freezes everything, Ice Blue! Shine! Aeon Shiva!" Chio shouts that with nothing but determination, furrowing her eyebrows and swinging her staff to the left. Shiva appears in a burst of crystal shards and snow, running towards Alula without hesitating. Some of the crystal shards fly towards Sayuri and she almost accidentally falls out of her boat. The teenager hangs onto the sides for dear life and springs her body up, letting out a deep sigh.

At least Shiva's appearance hasn't changed. She's the same, willowy, busty human with pale, blue skin and darker long, blue hair so to invoke an image of ice and cold. She's still wearing only enough clothing to retain her modesty, though.

At least she hasn't changed into some deranged, animal-like person.

She is, however, turning the water she's walking on to_ ice!_

Pure ice!

"Wow, is anyone else looking at this?" Sayuri asks in awe. When she doesn't get an answer she looks around, only to find out everyone else is gone. She looks back at Alula and sees her team deep in a nasty fight. Ruby's sticking Alula with her harpoon, Kokoro's running up the ice bridge Shiva's created, Morta's just hacking away at the beast, Chio's riding on Shiva's shoulder, and Damien's... Somewhere. She knows he's close by, judging by the lightning bolts hitting poor Alula's back. Miyuki's probably with him, too.

It wouldn't be a good idea for him to try to fight Alula head on, considering he's the Summoner of Lightning. Kokoro could handle being drenched in water. Somewhat. Sayuri's pretty sure Damien'd die.

"I'm going to tear you all to shreds!" Alula shrieks, not being able to withstand the pain of being beat up. Sayuri shakes her head, sighing and kicking her legs up. There's nothing like watching a fight take place and just relaxing. That is, until Alula lets out a roar that stirs the entire ocean of tears up, causing Sayuri's boat to rock.

Alula's scream creates such a big tidal wave that Sayuri just stands there and watches it, not sure what to do. A scream would be appropriate right now, but she kind of used all of her scream power up when she drowned the first time.

The wave crashes down on top of her unrelentingly, and suddenly all the fighting stops.

"_Alice!_"

Everyone screams for her, but she's already stuck underneath the waves, drifting in the ocean. What was she supposed to do? She was powerless. She couldn't slow the wave down, or make it go in the other direction... She was like a sitting duck. Sayuri opens her eyes and lets her arms drift out in front of her.

It better be Friday.

* * *

><p><strong><span>AN:** This one was kind of hard! XD;;;

So like, I knew I had to get the rest of the team in here somewhere, so Ruby was the Mouse, Morta was Lory, Kokoro was Eagel, and Damien was the Duck! And of course, Alula's supposed to be the frightening creature that scares everyone away! ... That didn't exactly happen, but hey. XD;; Not trying to go the normal way with this thing. XD;; When I wrote this chapter, I just knew I had to have Shiva in here somewhere. XD;; I know I said there wouldn't be any fight scenes in this (Did I? I feel like I forgot to. XD;;) but this kinda jumped out at me. XD;;

So I kind of tried to stop it the best way I could.

Getting rid of the observer. XD;; Which is our poor Alice. XD;; I know this is supposed to be the chapter with the boring factual stuff that that stupid race, but I didn't want to do that, so I substituted for it the best way I could. XD;; Shiva is so badass. XD;; And Suzuki is too, pulling a Jesus like he did. Nobody can do what he can! Nobody! XD;;

I guess next chapter we'll see if Sayuri's still alive or not. XD;;

If she keeps drowning...! XD;; *old man fist shake* It looks like Ruby won that bet too about Sayuri's boat tipping over and her drowning... XD


End file.
